‘Can It’ Campaign Backed by Peadiatric Dentistry Expert
Forfar Academy in Scotland have made the decision to ban pupils from drinking energy drinks on school premises.
This campaign is known as ‘Can It’ and has been backed by professor of paediatrics at Dundee University’s School of Dentistry, Dr Nicola Innes. She feels that measures must be taken to tackle the content of sugar in these drinks in a bid to improve the oral and general health of children in Tayside.
Dr Innes said she is supportive of the steps being taken to ban energy drinks in Scottish schools. She said one popular energy drink contains 20 teaspoons of sugar in just one can. That’s 15.6g of sugar per 100ml.
According to Dr Innes, recent figures show that obvious decay is still present in a quarter of P7 children. Though this has decreased from 50% in 2005, Dr Innes said numbers could increase again with the popularity of sugary energy drinks.
This warning comes after Forfar Academy posed the decision to confiscate drinks such as Rock Star and Monster, should children consume them on the premises.
Melvyn Lynch, head teacher at the school, sent a letter to parents to let them know of the decision. In this letter he wrote that long-term consumption of energy drinks can lead to bed-wetting, type 2 diabetes and anxiety.
Dr Innes is also concerned about the long-term impacts energy drinks can have on health. She said children lack awareness about the damage the drinks can cause and is frustrated by this. She also said that they are marketed as good for you, but children don’t know that they are bad for both general and dental health.
Join this Discussion